End of the Preliminaries

Lin Ke stood outside the arena, watching and shaking his head, not optimistic that Hyuga Neji, who was constantly dodging the sand attacks, could win.

Gentle Fist's attacks targeting the internal body are very powerful, and sealing Chakra can restrain many ninjas, but it's useless against Gaara, who is constantly protected by sand.

It's a typical case of a close-range fighter with short reach encountering a long-range archmage; there's no way to avoid being at a disadvantage. It's purely a matter of compatibility.

Unless the speed can reach a level where Gaara can't react at all, like Rock Lee after opening the five gates, or the power can penetrate two layers of defense like Chidori, it's difficult to cause actual damage.

Obviously, Hyuga Neji can't do either of these two things, but he can observe the opponent's information through Byakugan, so he gets stuck in a vicious cycle of constantly dodging and trying to find an opportunity.

[The altered plot is quite different; it's just that Yakushi Kabuto's group is missing, and little Lee didn't encounter Gaara...]

Lin Ke couldn't say whether he was happy or what. He lost an opportunity to win over Rock Lee and Might Guy, so theoretically, he should feel regretful.

But when he thought of Might Guy, he felt a little relieved.

In the arena, Hyuga Neji, who had been dodging the sand attacks, suddenly gathered Chakra at the soles of his feet and quickly approached Gaara like a suicidal charge.

"Sand!"

Gaara was naturally prepared. The sand he had arranged around him instantly surged up, blocking in front of him like an eggshell.

"Dong!" A palm infused with a large amount of Chakra deeply embedded itself into the Sand Shield, almost touching the Sand Armor on the surface of his skin. Unfortunately, after penetrating a large amount of sand, the power was exhausted.

A cruel smile appeared on his face. The sand that formed the Sand Shield quickly spread along the enemy's arm, enveloping it, and it looked like it was about to squeeze the opponent into shattered flesh.

"Whoosh!"

The whirlwind brought about by the chaotic release of Chakra howled in the sand.

*[Eight Trigrams Palm: Heavenly Spin!]*

Hyuga Neji spun like a top, and the sand filled with Chakra was blasted away with a crackling sound.

At such a close distance, even Gaara couldn't precisely control the sand. The rebounded sand created dense cracks on his Sand Armor. At the same time, he was also knocked into the air by the nearby spiral force.

A confident smile appeared on Hyuga Neji's face—

[You are already within the range of my Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Palm!]

[Victory—]

*[Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!!!]*

"Pa!" two palms! "Pa!" four palms! "Pa!" eight palms! "Ka~" The sound of Sand Armor shattering rang out, sixteen palms! "Dong!" thirty-two palms! The palm finally broke through all defenses and attacked the acupoints.

Hyuga Neji, who was attacking with abandon, didn't notice that his feet and legs were being silently entangled by sand.

[Crap...] Might Guy's expression turned serious.

"Pa!" sixty-four palms! The sixty-four palms, which should have been the end, still landed on the sand.

"Ka~" The pain of being squeezed spread from his lower body.

[How could this be? I clearly sealed his acupoints; he shouldn't be able to use Chakra normally?!]

Hyuga Neji then realized—[Some of the Chakra inside the sand... isn't his at all!]

He struggled to raise his head and looked at Gaara, who was standing on the sand floating in the air, his entire Sand Armor shattered, revealing a hideous smile.

[The Chakra inside this guy's body is increasing abnormally...]

Immediately afterward, his vision was completely obscured by sand.

"Pa!" Might Guy appeared in the arena at some point and waved his hand to scatter the sand.

[Gaara...] Maki looked at the disheveled Jinchuriki, having already refined Chakra and prepared to go up at any time to stop Gaara from possibly going berserk.

"Gaara wins!" Hayate Gekko announced the result.

Gaara, standing on the sand, suddenly clutched his head in pain and squatted down. Seeing someone caring about the tool called 'ninja', he, who considered himself a weapon, couldn't understand it. At the same time, many memories surged up, bringing endless pain.

"Medical Team!" Before Hayate Gekko could finish speaking, he saw a shorty in a Medical Team uniform appear before him—

"?!" He was startled by the dangerous look in those eyes and leaned back slightly.

Lin Ke pressed on Hyuga Neji's body, quickly checking his injuries.

"Compound fractures in both legs, most of the muscles and waist fractured..." He released Chakra, performing emergency treatment.

Fortunately, Hyuga clan members, who were attacked by sand compression, are able to release Chakra throughout their bodies. After being attacked, they quickly tried to release Chakra to activate Eight Trigrams Palm: Heavenly Spin. If he hadn't been so eager to attack, he wouldn't have suffered such serious injuries.

With timely treatment, his injuries are much lighter than Rock Lee's in the manga, where bone fragments entered the nerve center, but he will probably have to stay in bed for at least a month or two.

However, this is already very lucky.

"Hyuga Neji!" Rock Lee rushed over, looking at his unconscious teammate, and asked with concern, "Hyuga Neji, how are you!"

Lin Ke looked up at him and said, "Don't shout around the patient."

"Ah... yes!" Rock Lee quickly took a few steps back, turned his head to look at Gaara, who was about to leave, raised his thumb, and shouted, "Wait for me, Sand Village ninja over there, I will defeat you in the official competition!"

Not hatred, nor being affected by the anger of his companion being seriously injured, but to defeat the opponent in a fair and square manner.

[Well done, Rock Lee!] Might Guy, knowing that his subordinate was not seriously injured, also gave Rock Lee a thumbs up.

[Really... incomprehensible.] Gaara used Sand Body Flicker to return to his two 'teammates', looking at the harmonious Konoha ninjas, his eyes were full of incomprehension, and his heart seemed to be constantly gnawed at by something, eating away at his sanity.

[Gaara is getting so dangerous, he almost even...] Kankuro shrank back a little, feeling scared.

Nan Shi took action to lift Hyuga Neji onto a stretcher and rushed him to the hospital. Although the injury was not fatal or would leave permanent damage, it still needed to be treated in time.

Lin Ke stayed where he was. Next, he had to deal with the Cursed Seal on Sasuke, so he couldn't follow the other Medical Team members.

"Well then, the preliminary round of the third exam is over."

After Hayate Gekko announced the end of the preliminary round, the Third Hokage took over and began to explain the time, content, and lottery for the third round.

Lin Ke walked to Uchiha Sasuke's side and asked softly, "How is it? Can you still hold on?"

The characteristic of the Cursed Seal is that it absorbs natural energy and mixes it with the host's Chakra, which means that even if you don't gather a lot of it, even if you just refine it, there will be some reaction.

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